Südzucker International Finance B. V. Südzucker AG ... - Xetra

confectionery sector for products such as caramel cream or strawberry cream. Internationalproducers have decided in favour of using Isomalt from Palatinit for these products. There has beenfurther satisfactory growth in sales of sugar-free functional food products containing Isomalt in Asianmarkets, which tend to be open to traditional, health-inducing ingredients and which makesuccessful use of a modern sugar-free sweetener.The business segments of the ORAFTI Group have developed strongly in the fiscal year 2002/03 andwere able to strengthen their market penetration with functional food, textured consumables andspecific fluid sweeteners.The “active food ingredients” division (inulin and oligofructose for human and animal nutrients) wasagain marked by strong sales growth in fiscal year 2002/2003. More than 300 new foodstuffs wereintroduced with ORAFTI products RAFTILINE and RAFTILOSE. Markets in Asia were particularlystimulated by stressing the beneficial pre-biotic effect of products on health. In America and Europethe topics of fibre and improved calcium intake were grounds for success. There is growing interestin using inulin as a fat substitute. This trend is supported by consumer fears about obesity anddiabetes, to which producers have reacted by introducing lower-calorie products on the market. Afurther growth driver is interest in foodstuffs with low carbohydrates, for which inulin andoligofructose are ideal ingredients. ORAFTI was subject to aggressive price competition for inulinproducts on certain markets.The “liquid sweeteners” division profited from higher demand for specially-designed liquidsweeteners. Both sales and profits rose in fiscal year 2002/2003 despite price pressures fromimported fructose.StarchSüdzucker Group’s starch activities are mainly carried out by AGRANA, one of the largest businessto-businesssuppliers on the European market in the biological and GM-free sectors. The starchdivision performed satisfactorily in the fiscal year 2002/03. Despite a market-related decline in prices,revenues increased by 12% to 5 209.9 million (5 187.5 million), mainly due to entry into new marketsand a successful upgrading strategy. Operating profits also continued to improve in fiscal year 2002/2003. In Austria, sales volumes of cornstarch based products increased particularly satisfactorily,with a rise of 17%. Sales volumes divided into food and non-food applications show an increase inthe non-food/technical starch area, although at the expense of lower prices, of almost 27%, whereasturnover volumes in the food area only rose slightly.Portion Pack Europe (PPE)Portion Pack Europe Group’s turnover rose by more than 30% in the fiscal year 2002/03, to 5 125million. 7.5 % of this increase related to internal growth, with the rest attributable to the purchase ofPortion Pack Landgraf (Holland) and Cocachoc, Belgium. The European-wide group specializes inportion packs for the catering and wholesaler sectors and is increasingly entering niche markets forits various customer groups.SuraftiThe Surafti Group delivers mainly sugar-based niche products to the processing industry for bakeryproducts. Production is located at six medium-sized operations in four countries. Acquisitionsstrengthened the nougat activities in France in the fiscal year 2002/03.Freiberger GroupFreiberger Group has a leading position in the frozen pizzas and baguettes market throughoutEurope. Top-quality products are produced using state-of-the-art technology at production locations33